The objective of this research is the development of an econometric model of the aging household with emphasis on the economic responses of the family to poor health in the older male. The model will include as important elements the market and institutional constraints within which the family operates, namely the wage rate of the male (following the onset of poor health) and of his spouse, and the availability of transfer income. Within this structure, the family is assumed to choose optimally the level of male labor supply, female labor supply, and asset adjustments. This interdependent model of institutional and choice processes constitutes a reasonably complete consumption model of the household. The household model will be developed at both the theoretical and empirical level. Particular attention will be given to adjustment cost factors such as work hour adjustment costs and market entry costs for females and asset adjustment costs for different types of assets (stocks and bonds, home ownership, etc.). The principal data base for the empirical analysis will be the National Longitudinal Surveys of older males, 45 to 59 in 1966, the initial survey year. The empirical models will be estimated using ordinary least squares and two- and three-stage least squares simultaneous techniques and, when appropriate, non-linear methods. The economic model of the older household with the male in poor health should be an important contribution to our understanding of the economic difficulties of the aging household since the growing likelihood of major health difficulties is a principal feature of the aging process. The model should provide a useful tool of policy analysis in this area.